Bearing



1' Feb 927 H. w. HENRY BEARING Filed Oct. 21, 1922 12671755555 fZYUEHZDJT' H15 #Wy jx-UNITED STAT Patented Feb. 22, 1927.

PATENT OFFICE.-

HOWABJO W. HENRY OF DATTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL MOTORS RESEARCH CORPORATION, OF DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

rename.

Application filed October 21, 1922. Serial No. 596,130.

This invention relates to self lubricating bearings particularly for shafts and the like,

and the invention has among its objects the provision of a bearing whlch will remain self lubricating practicall for the life of the bearing, meanin until such a time as the bearing surface s iall have been worn in normal use so that it should bereplaced.

F or the purposes of illustration the present invention is embodied in an automobile horn operated by an electric motor, but it is to be understood that the invention is capable of many other uses and is not to be limited to bearings for small motors, such as illus- 5 trated.

Further objects and advantages of'- the present invention will be apparent from the ollowing description, reference being had to-the accompanying drawings, wherein pre 2o ferred forms of embodiment of the present invention are clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a motor driven automobile horn to which two embodiments of the invention are applied.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of one of the motor shaft bearings, on an enlarged scale form shown in Fig. 1, and before the bearing'has been attached to the horn motor shaft.

. Fig. 3 is a side view of a plug ,forming a partof the bearing assembly.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the bearing shown in- Fig. 2'.

In the drawings, the on shaped motor frame is provided wit flange 21 to which is attached by means of screws 22 the packing washer 23, a diaphragm 24, a secon d packing washer 25 and a horn frame 28 carrying the horn 27. The frame 20 carries pole pieces 28 which are surrounded by the field magnet windings 29. An armature 30 mounted on a shaft 31 rotates between the poles 28. The armature includes windings 32 attachedv to a commutator 33 against which bear brushes 34 mounted on the non-conducting brush holders 35 which are .preferably constructed of 'bakelite moulded 1n place upon a bearing frame 36. This framers secured in place by means of screws 37 and carries a bearing 38 of oil absorbing metal within which is journalled the shaft 31, the rear end 39 of the shaft '31 being journalled within aself lubricating bearing designated as a whole by numeral 40.

The front end of the shaft 31 carries a ratchet 41 secured in 'place by screws 42 and adapted to engage a lug 43 riveted to the diaparagm 24. There are the usual circult connectionsfor a series motor connecting the brushes 34 and the field windings 29.

As is well known in the art, rotation of the motor shaft 31 will effect the vibration of the diaphragm 24 with sufiicient rapidity to produce a sound.

It is apparent tliat'io-provide a device of this character with a hearing which will remain self lubricating and will retain its bearing qualities for a time at least e ual to the life of the horn, is highlydesira 1e. It is equally desirable that these bearings shall not allowan excessive amount of oil to come in contact with the motor shaft, otherwise the operation of the motor and electric circuits might be interfered with. To accomplish these aims the specially constructed self lubricating bearings 38 and 40 of porous oil absorbing metal have been provided. The material for these. bearings is of the type described and claimed in the 00- 80 pending applications of Harry Williams, Serial No. 546,478, filed March 24, 1922, andv Williams & Boegehold, Serial No. 582,550, filed August 17, 1922.

The bearing 40' includes a tubular shell having threaded engagement with the motor frame 20 for purposes of adjustment. lhe shell 60 is' provided with an annular flange 61 which is formed initially as shown in Fig. 2. and'with a flange '72 which is formed initially as indicated by the dot and dash line at the right of Fig. 2. A bushing 62 of porous bearing metal is finished so as to make a press fit within the shell 60. 'The bearing surface 63 of the bushing 62 is fin- 95 ished by a broaching operation during which the shell 60 is located within the fixture vlv lhigh maintains the broach concentric to the s el After the shell has been provided with a bushing 62 the assembly is impregnated with oil by soaking in a bath of oil at about 180 F. for about 12 hours, the bath being allowed to cool before the bearingis removed. disc or button 64 of bearing material similar to the bushing 63 is inserted within the shell 60. This button 64 need not be separately moulded but it can be cut from a rod of the required diameter by means of a cutting wheel formed preferably of hard rubber and 110 spun over the outer face of the plug to secure it in position shown in Fig. 2 and to make practically an oil tight joint between the head of the plug and the shell 60. The shell flange 72 is staked down into the grooves 67 as shown at 69 in Figs. 2 and 4. i

The bearing 40 is screwed into the motor frame 20 and is attached to shaft 31 by spinning the flange 61 into a bevelled groove formed adjacent the end 39 of'shaft 31. 'il he deformed flange is shown at 61 in The cross, rooves 67 in the plug provide for the app 'cation of a screw driver by which the bearing 40 ma be turned and shifted toward or from t e diaphragm 24 to regulate the horn. A lock nut 70 secures the bearin 40 in adjusted position.

It is beheved that the felt washer acts as an Oil reservoir which supplies oil to the outer surface of thebearing button 64 as needed.- As lubricant in bearing 63 is consumed, oil is attracted by it, by force of capillary attraction, from the button 64. As

the oil stored in' button 64, is absorbed, it

attracts the oil which is supplied to its outer surface b the oil absorbing material such as the fe t washer 68. Obviously some oil will be fed directly to the end of the shaft by the button 64 and this oil will creep onto the cylindrical surface of the shaft. If the bearing parts 63 and 64 were made integral, the oil feeding action would be substantially the same as described. It is apparent that a system of bearing lubrication has been provided in which a wick of relatively high oil absorbing capacity feeds oil to a wick of relativelylower oil absorbing capacity whenever the absorbing power of the second wick is greater than that of the first wick, or in other words, when the degree of saturation of the second wick falls below that of the first wick. The second wick is the bearing material itself. As oil is consumed at the bearing surface, the bearing material wick becomes emptied" v of some of its oil and its degree of saturation falls below reservoir saturation. The

.oil'absorbing power of the bearing is then "greater than that of the felt wick, hence the oil flows from the felt wick into the bearing because of the tendency .to flow from a oint of higher saturation to a point of ower saturation. This flow will continue and until a balance is established between the degree of saturation of the bearing material wick and the fibrous material wick.

When a definite metallurgical process is employed to provide porous bearing material, the character of the material can be so controlled that when the bearing material has absorbed lubricantto its full ca acity, the correct amount of lubricant wil be supplied to the bearing surface. Since the oil capacity of the bearing material is limited to less than that required for the normal life of the bearing, the bearing material wick is backed up by another wick having high oil absorbing capacity, namely by a wick of felt or other fibrous material which will absorb several times its own'weight in oil. As long as the bearing material is wet, that is, has absorbed oil until the balance referred to is established no more oil will be drawn from the storage reservoir.

The bearing material has the property of retaining its full quota of oil, until the shaft wipes some oil 011' from the bearing surface. The supp-1y to the shaft is limited by what it can wipe off, therefore the shaft will. not receive an excess supply such as to cause oil throwing at the ends of the bearing. There fore this self contained system of bearing lubrication will supply the necessary lubricant for a long period of time, even in excess of the life of the bearing surface.

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described, constitutes a preferred form of embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, a l coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What I claim is as follows:

1. A shaft bearing comprising, in combination, a tube, a bearing of porous metal retained within the tube, and a fibrous body of greater oil absorbing capacity than the bearing metal retained within the tube in contact with the bearing metal.

'2. A shaft bearing comprising in combination a shell; a bushing adjacent one end of said shell; a plug adjacent the other end of the shell; a disc of porous metal in said shell, interposed between the bushing and plug Ipartitioning the shell to provide a chamber etween the plug and disc; and a lubricant containing member in said chamber adapted to provide-lubricant to be absorbed by the disc and transferred to the bushing.

3. A shaft bearing comprising in combination,-a shell; a disc of porous bearing material rovided in said shell, intermediate the en s thereof, so as to provide a partition therein; a plug including a head portion closing the one end of the shell, and a shank portion spaced from the walls of the shell and engaging the disc; a lubricant containing member in the space about the shank portion of the plug; and a bushing for re- Ill i ,j' rceivin a shaft,provided in the shell on the side the-disc opposite the plug.

closing the one end of the shell,

4; Ash'aft bearing comprising in combination, a shell; a discof porous bearing material .providedin said shell, intermediate the ends thereof, so as to provide a partition therein; a plug including a head portion and a shank portion spaced; from the walls of the shell ing member in the space about the shank .and engaging the'disc; a lubricant contain- )ortion.;:o, -the plug; and a porous metal fishing"for ieceiving ashaft, provided in tlie'sliell on the side of-thedisc opposite the -plug ,-o1'ie edgeof said bushing engaging with the-disc. c

a 5. A shaft bearmgcomprismg 1ncombination, a shell havingat on'e end thereof an a. partition therein; a porous metal bushin opening less in diameter than the bore of the shell said opening being defined by an annular shoulder extending inwardly at this end of the shell; a porous metal "disc forming an end thrust bearing in said shell, intermediate the 'ends thereof, and providing interposed between the annular shoulder 0? the shell and the disc, one end of said bushthe annular bea-ring said disc forming a partition in the shell intermediate the ends thereof a plug closing the one end of the shell and provided with an extension engaging the end thrust bearing disc, said extension being of lesser transverse dimension than the inner diameter of the shellso as to provide a space in said shell, between the head of the plug and the end thrust bearing disc; and a lubricant containing member in said space.

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature. 1

' HOWARD 'W. HENRY; 

